Put Feet to Their Faith and Help Provide Lunches for Children in the Summer!

All this month I'm encouraging churches to "Put Feet to Their Faith" and involve their children in food drives and projects to raise money for food to give to a local food pantry. In every community across this country - and around the world - there are children and families who are hungry. We can help! We can do something tangible which makes a real difference in the lives of others! Consider some of these opportunities to get involved and help hungry children in your community -

• In 2009 the National School Lunch program provided free or low-cost lunches to more than 31 million school children in the United States of America each school day. Many of these children would not have been able to have lunch without this program. Today in 2011 I suspect this number is even higher with the increased number of parents who are unemployed or underemployed. So, what do these children do during summer break when they are not at school? The US Department of Agriculture has a Summer Food Service Program which feeds hungry children over the summer and your church could get involved as a feeding site for the children in your community. 
• Feeding America became involved in feeding hungry children when school is not in session through their BackPack Program. "There are children in America that rely on resources such as free or reduced-priced school lunch, during the school year. The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. The BackPack Program concept was developed at the Arkansas Rice Depot, after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomachaches and dizziness. The local food bank began to provide the school children with groceries in non-descript backpacks to carry home. In addition to providing nutritious food to school children in need, some BackPack Programs provide extra food for younger siblings at home."
• Feeding America also has a program called Kid's Cafe; "Kids Cafe programs provide free meals and snacks to low-income children through a variety of community locations where children already congregate—such as Boys & Girls Clubs, churches or public schools. In addition to providing meals to kids, all Kids Cafe programs also offer a safe place, where under the supervision of trustworthy staff, a child can get involved in educational, recreational and social activities."

These are just a couple possibilities for how you could get involved and help the children in your community who are hungry in the summer when school is out. Check this link for 101 Ways You Can Feed the Hungry and Help the Poor for some additional ideas and/or check with your local school to see what is currently being offered and how you can get involved!

Family Pick - Find It! At the Zoo!

I'm so happy to announce my new Family Pick . . . Find It at the Zoo! I love Find It! games - they are great fun for the entire family - but when you add zoo animals it is sure to be something everyone will love to play with! The makers of Find It invite you to find all -"39 animals. Can you find the giraffe, duck, rhinoceros, whale, elephant or eagle in this self-contained scavenger hunt? And, yes, the hard-to-find penny is still hidden in every Find It game. Whether you re 8 or 98, it will be a hard game to put away. Play Find It At the Zoo in your home, car or office. " 

They are absolutely right . . . a Find It! is a "self-contained scavenger hunt" and it is great fun! Each Find It! includes a pad with a list of each animal hidden in the Find It! Check them all off to win the game and then start the scavenger hunt all over again! In addition, each Find It! has a penny hidden in it . . . if you find the penny, then you are a champion Find It Finder! Find It at the Zoo is great fun for use at church and at home! As you find the animals, talk with your child(ren) about the animals God made and ask them which animal is their favorite!

I'm so happy to announce Find It! has sent me a Find It at the Zoo for review and another for give-away! Next Friday, June 10th, I'll give one away! If you have "liked" About the Children's Department using the tab in the "find us on facebook" box ON THE BLOG, then you are entered in my Find It at the Zoo give-away! If you haven't, take a moment to do it right now and you will be entered in the drawing! It is this simple!

First Friday Freebies - Joy to the World the Lord is Come! Christmas Program!

I know it is just the beginning of Summer, but it is also the ideal time to begin thinking about what you would like to do at your church for a Christmas program. For my First Friday Freebie this month, I'm giving away a Christmas Program - Joy to the World the Lord is Come! This is a program which can involve everyone in your church from the little children to adults. Two big "pluses" to this program - other than I'm giving it away for free - are first of all it has a solid message about the reason Jesus came to be born as a baby! He came to die for us and rise again so we can be forgiven for our sins and know and walk with Him forever! Secondly, the songs are all familiar carols we all know. This is a huge plus when it comes to learning the program! This program has something for everyone to be involved - singing parts, speaking parts, building sets and of course, praying the message will be clear to all who see it! Consider presenting Joy to the World the Lord is Come to the people in your church and community this year!

We Have Two Winners in My VeggieTales Live! Sing Yourself Silly DVD Give-away!

I'm happy to announce Robin McCoy and Julie Godwin Snyder have each won one copy of the 
VeggieTales Live! Sing Yourself Silly DVD give-away! Thank you VeggieTales for sending this dvd for my review and two more for give-away and thank you Robin and Julie for reading About the Children's Department!

A Look Back . . . and a Look Forward! Recruit, Support, Encourage and Train Volunteers!

As I began to write About the Children's Department I said I love recruiting volunteers . . . this is so true! I always looked at it as being on a treasure hunt . . . volunteers are a treasure, a gift from the hand of God! They are there in our churches - some of them know who they are, and others do not . . . yet! Recruiting is the opportunity to help people discover the joy of serving . . . and there is certainly a lot of joy to be had in serving in children's ministry!  I've posted a lot about recruiting . . . how to plan a month of recruiting, how to screen volunteers, gave you eight complete recruiting themes and plans and more! Check my blog and look at the tab on the top for recruiting to find my posts on recruiting!

In addition, I've posted about supporting, encouraging and training your volunteers as well . . . which are certainly lots of fun! After all, what is more fun than telling someone "thank-you" and then planning opportunities to show your appreciation! I always planned two big appreciation events throughout the year - an appreciation dinner in the Spring and a Holiday Open House the weekend before Thanksgiving - and every other week I gave each volunteer a little "surprise" to say "thank you!" It is all so much fun!

We always made training mandatory - training for VBS each year and then before our Fall ministries kicked off we had another mandatory training for Sunday and Mid-week ministries. Of course, training can be a lot of fun! Our trainings were always interactive as we walked our volunteers through the materials they would be using . . . and of course had lots of food! We have tried special training opportunities - such as Sunday evening electives - which I really liked as well.

In the coming months I'll continue to help you countdown to and plan a Holiday Open House and will post about recruiting and training your volunteers as well! So, what do you do to recruit, support, encourage and train your volunteers?

A Look Back . . . and a Look Forward! Safe Church Nurseries!

During the months of April and May I spent a week talking about the components of a safe nursery and essentials for a safe nursery ministry. I posted about safe nursery polices, equipment, toys, checking babies in, designing a top notch nursery environment on a shoestring and more! It really matters what our nurseries are like . . . we need to have specific policies in place to ensure our nurseries are as safe as possible for the children we are entrusted with. In addition I reviewed a couple nursery curriculum resources which provide the opportunity for our nurseries to minister to children and parents as we begin to lay a foundation grounded in God's Word for these little ones!


I reviewed a number of toy resources in these articles and would like to mention one additional toy for your church nurseries today . . . the Grab & Stack blocks from Bright Starts! These blocks are made from soft fabric and comes in a set of four - each featuring different patterns and characters. I especially love the textures and sounds on each block. Each block rattles, jingles or crinkles, had tags, knots, letters, numbers, colorful patterns, cute characters and setw in loops. I love these blocks and so will the babies in your nursery!


If you do not have specific policies for your nursery and/or are trying to determine how to make your nursery environment engaging - especially on a shoestring - take a look at these posts and see if there is anything there you could do in your ministry!